Duke claimed to have spent nine months in Laos, calling that a "normal tour of duty". He actually went there to join his father, who was working there and had asked him to visit during the summer of 1971.[16] His father got him a job teaching English to Laotian military officers, from which he was dismissed after six weeks when he drew a Molotov cocktail on the blackboard.[17] He also claimed to have gone behind enemy lines 20 times at night to drop rice to anti-communist insurgents in planes flying 10 feet (3.0 m) off the ground, narrowly avoiding receiving a shrapnel wound. Two Air America pilots who were in Laos at that time said that flights were during the day and flew no less than 500 feet (150 m) feet from the ground. One suggested that it might have been possible for Duke to have gone on a safe "milk run" once or twice but no more than that. Duke was also unable to recall the name of the airfield used.[16]

Duke graduated from LSU in 1974. During this time he spent what would have been his senior year organizing the National Party.[18]

Family and personal life

While working in the White Youth Alliance, Duke met Chloê Hardin, who was also active in the group. They remained companions throughout college and married in 1974. Hardin is the mother of Duke's two daughters, Erika and Kristin. The Dukes divorced in 1984,[19] and Chloe moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, in order to be near her parents. There, she became involved with Duke's Klan friend, Don Black, whom she later married.[20] Duke also developed a lifelong weakness for gambling.[21]

In 2009, it was confirmed that David Duke was living in Zell am See in Salzburg, Austria,[23] from which he ran the Internet business "Art by Ernst", taking and selling photographs of rare birds, mountain scenery and wildlife[24][25] under the pseudonym "Ernst Duke" (Germanized version of Duke's middle name, Ernest).[26][27] Local authorities stated at the time that as long as he did not break any laws, Duke would allowed to stay in Austria if he wished.[28] Duke stated: "I'm not in Austria for any political activities. I just come to Austria to relax – the mountains are beautiful. The Austrian Alps are just beautiful. There's beauty all over the world." In May 2009, Duke issued a statement denying that he resides in Austria and saying that he is a resident of Mandeville in St. Tammany Parish and is registered as a taxpayer in his city, state and on the national level.[29] As of March 6, 2015, Duke is not listed as a registered voter in Louisiana.[30]

Political activities

Early campaigns

Duke first ran for the Louisiana Senate as a Democrat from a Baton Rouge district in 1975. During his campaign, he was allowed to speak on the college campuses of Vanderbilt University, Indiana University, the University of Southern California, Stanford University, and Tulane University.[31] He received 11,079 votes, one-third of those cast.[32] In October 1979, he ran as a Democrat for the 10th District Senate seat and finished second in a three-candidate race with 9,897 votes (26 percent).[33] Duke allegedly conducted a direct-mail appeal in 1987, using the identity and mailing-list of the GeorgiaForsyth County Defense League without permission. League officials described it as a fundraising scam. Duke was accused by several Klan officials of stealing the organization's money. "Duke is nothing but a con artist," Jack Gregory, Duke's Florida state leader, told the Clearwater Sun after Duke allegedly refused to turn over proceeds from a series of 1979 Klan rallies to the Knights. Another Klan official under Duke, Jerry Dutton, told reporters that Duke had used Klan funds to purchase and refurbish his home in Metairie. Duke later justified the repairs by saying most of his home was used by the Klan. In 1979, after his first, abortive run for president (as a Democrat) and a series of highly publicized violent Klan incidents, Duke quietly incorporated the nonprofit National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP) in an attempt to leave the baggage of the Klan behind.[34]

1988 presidential campaign

In 1988, Duke ran initially in the Democratic presidential primaries. His campaign failed to make much of an impact, with the one notable exception of winning the little-known New Hampshire Vice-Presidential primary.[35] Duke, having failed to gain much traction as a Democrat, then successfully sought the Presidential nomination of the Populist Party.[36] He appeared on the ballot for president in 11 states and was a write-in candidate in some other states, some with Trenton Stokes of Arkansas for vice president, and on other state ballots with Floyd Parker for vice president. He received just 47,047 votes, for 0.04 percent of the combined, national popular vote.[37]

1989: Successful run in special election for Louisiana House seat

In December 1988, Duke changed his political affiliation from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.[2]

In 1988, Republican State Representative Charles Cusimano of Metairie resigned his District 81 seat to become a 24th Judicial District Court judge, and a special election was called early in 1989 to select a successor. Duke entered the race to succeed Cusimano and faced several opponents, including fellow Republicans John Spier Treen, a brother of former GovernorDavid C. Treen; Delton Charles, a school board member; and Roger F. Villere, Jr., who operates Villere's Florist in Metairie. Duke finished first in the primary with 3,995 votes (33.1%).[38] As no one received a majority of the vote in the first round, a runoff election was required between Duke and Treen, who polled 2,277 votes (18.9%) in the first round of balloting. John Treen's candidacy was endorsed by U.S. President George H. W. Bush, former President Ronald Reagan, and other notable Republicans,[39] as well as Democrats Victor Bussie (president of the Louisiana AFL-CIO) and Edward J. Steimel (president of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry and former director of the "good government" think tank, the Public Affairs Research Council). Duke, however, hammered Treen on a statement the latter had made indicating a willingness to entertain higher property taxes, anathema in that suburban district.[40] Duke, with 8,459 votes (50.7%) defeated Treen, who polled 8,232 votes (49.3%).[41] He served in the House from 1989 until 1992.[42]

Freshman legislator Odon Bacqué of Lafayette, a No Party member of the House, stood alone in 1989 when he attempted to deny seating to Duke on the grounds that the incoming representative had resided outside his district at the time of his election. When John Treen failed in a court challenge in regard to Duke's residency, Duke was seated. Lawmakers who opposed Duke said that they had to defer to his constituents who narrowly chose Duke as representative.[43]

Colleague Ron Gomez of Lafayette stated that Duke, as a short-term legislator, was "so single minded, he never really became involved in the nuts and bolts of House rules and parliamentary procedure. It was just that shortcoming that led to the demise of most of his attempts at lawmaking."[44]

One legislative issue pushed by Duke was the requirement that welfare recipients be tested for the use of narcotics. The recipients had to show themselves to be drug-free to receive state and federal benefits under his proposal.[45]

Gomez, a long-time journalist, recalls having met and interviewed Duke in the middle 1970s when Duke was a state senate candidate: "He was still in his mid-20s and very non-descript. Tall and slimly built, he had a very prominent nose, flat cheek bones, a slightly receding chin and straight dark brown hair. The interview turned out to be quite innocuous, and I hadn't thought about it again until Duke came to my legislative desk, and we shook hands. Who was this guy? Tall and well-built with a perfect nose, a model's cheek bones, prominent chin, blue eyes and freshly coiffed blond hair, he looked like a movie star. He obviously didn't remember from the radio encounter, and I was content to leave it at that."[46]

Consistent with Gomez's observation, Duke in the latter 1980s reportedly had his nose thinned and chin augmented. Following his election to the Louisiana House of Representatives, he shaved his mustache.[47][48][49]

Gomez, in his 2000 autobiography, wrote about Duke: "He once presented a bill on the floor, one of the few which he had managed to get out of committee. He finished his opening presentation and strolled with great self-satisfaction back up the aisle to his seat. In his mind, he had spoken, made his presentation and that was that. Before he had even reached his desk and re-focused on the proceedings, another first-term member had been recognized for the floor and immediately moved to table the bill. The House voted for the motions effectively killing the bill. That and similar procedures were used against him many times."[50] Gomez said that he recalls Duke obtaining the passage of only a single bill, legislation which prohibited movie producers or book publishers from compensating jurors for accounts of their court experiences.[51]

Gomez added that Duke's "tenure in the House was short and uninspired. Never has anyone parlayed an election by such a narrow margin to such a minor position to such international prominence. He has run for numerous other positions without success but has always had some effect, usually negative, on the outcome."[52]

Gomez continued: Duke's "new message was that he had left the Klan, shed the Nazi uniform he had proudly worn in many previous appearances, and only wanted to serve the people. He eliminated his high-octane anti-Semitic rhetoric. He was particularly concerned with the plight of 'European-Americans.' He never blatantly spoke of race as a factor but referred to the 'growing underclass.' He used the tried and true demagoguery of class envy to sell his message: excessive taxpayers' money spent on welfare, school busing practices, affirmative action... and set-aside programs. He also embraced a subject near and dear to every Jefferson Parish voter, protection of the homestead exemption."[53]

Duke launched unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. Senate in 1990 and governor in 1991. Villere did not again seek office but instead concentrated his political activity within the Republican organization.[54]

1990 campaign for U.S. Senate

Duke has often criticized federal policies that he believes discriminate against white people in favor of racial minorities. To that end he formed the controversial group, the "National Association for the Advancement of White People", a play on the African American civil rights group, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.[55]

Though Duke had first hesitated about entering the Senate race, he made his announcement of candidacy for the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 6, 1990. Duke was the only Republican in competition against three Democrats, including incumbent U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., of Shreveport,[56] whom Duke derided as "J. Benedict Johnston".[57]

Former Governor David Treen, whose brother, John Treen, Duke had defeated for state representative in 1989, called Duke's senatorial platform "garbage. ... I think he is bad for our party because of his espousal of Nazism and racial superiority."[58]

The Republican Party officially endorsed state Senator Ben Bagert of New Orleans in a state convention on January 13, 1990, but national GOP officials in October, just days before the primary election, concluded that Bagert could not win. To avoid a runoff between Duke and Johnston, the GOP decided to surrender the primary to Johnston. Funding for Bagert's campaign was halted, and after initial protest, Bagert dropped out two days before the election. With such a late withdrawal, Bagert's name remained on the ballot, but his votes, most of which were presumably cast as absentee ballots, were not counted.[59][60] Duke received 43.51 percent (607,391 votes) of the primary vote to Johnston's 53.93 percent (752,902 votes).[56]

Duke's views prompted some of his critics, including Republicans such as journalist Quin Hillyer, to form the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism, which directed media attention to Duke's statements of hostility to blacks and Jews.[61]

In a 2006 editorial, Gideon Rachman (The Economist, the Financial Times) recalled interviewing Duke's 1990 campaign manager, who said, "The Jews just aren't a big issue in Louisiana. We keep telling David, stick to attacking the blacks. There's no point in going after the Jews, you just piss them off and nobody here cares about them anyway."[62]

1991 campaign for Governor of Louisiana

Despite repudiation by the Republican Party,[63] Duke ran for governor of Louisiana in 1991. In the primary, Duke finished second to former governor Edwin W. Edwards in votes; thus, he faced Edwards in a runoff. In the initial round, Duke received 32 percent of the vote. Incumbent Governor Buddy Roemer, who had switched from the Democratic to Republican parties during his term, came in third with 27 percent of the vote. Duke effectively killed Roemer's bid for re-election. While Duke had a sizable core constituency of devoted supporters, many voted for him as a "protest vote" to register dissatisfaction with Louisiana's establishment politicians. During the campaign, Duke said he was the spokesman for the "white majority"[64] and, according to the New York Times, "equated the extermination of Jews in Nazi Germany with affirmative action programs in the United States."[65]

The Christian Coalition of America, which exerted considerable impact on the Republican State Central Committee, was led in Louisiana by its national director and vice president, Billy McCormack, then the pastor of University Worship Center in Shreveport. The coalition was accused of having failed to investigate Duke in the early part of his political resurgence. By the time of the 1991 gubernatorial election, however, its leadership had withdrawn support from Duke.[66] Despite Duke's status as the only Republican in the runoff, sitting Republican President George H.W. Bush opposed his candidacy and denounced him as charlatan and a racist.[65] White House Chief of Staff John Sununu stated that "The President is absolutely opposed to the kind of racist statements that have come out of David Duke now and in the past."[67]

The Louisiana Coalition against Racism and Nazism rallied against the election of Duke as governor. Beth Rickey, a moderate member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee and a PhD student at Tulane University, began to follow Duke to record his speeches and expose what she saw as instances of racist and neo-Nazi remarks. For a time, Duke took Rickey to lunch, introduced her to his daughters, telephoned her late at night, and tried to convince her of his worldview: the Holocaust was a myth, notorious Auschwitz physician Josef Mengele was a medical genius, and that blacks and Jews were responsible for various social ills. Rickey released transcripts of their conversations to the press and also provided evidence establishing that Duke sold Nazi literature (including Mein Kampf) from his legislative office and attended neo-Nazi political gatherings while he held elective office.[68][69]

Between the primary and the runoff, called the "general election" under Louisiana election rules (in which all candidates run on one ballot, regardless of party), white supremacist organizations from around the country contributed to Duke's campaign fund.[70][71]

Duke's rise garnered national media attention. While he gained the backing of the quixotic former Alexandria Mayor John K. Snyder, Duke won few serious endorsements in Louisiana. Celebrities and organizations donated thousands of dollars to former Governor Edwin Edwards' campaign. Referencing Edwards' long-standing problem with accusations of corruption, popular bumper stickers read: "Vote for the Crook. It's Important",[72][73] and "Vote for the Lizard, not the Wizard." When a reporter asked Edwards what he needed to do to triumph over Duke, Edwards replied with a smile: "Stay alive."

The runoff debate, held on November 6, 1991, received significant attention when journalist Norman Robinson questioned Duke. Robinson, who is African-American, told Duke that he was "scared" at the prospect of Duke winning the election because of his history of "diabolical, evil, vile" racist and antisemitic comments, some of which he read to Duke. He then pressed Duke for an apology and when Duke protested that Robinson was not being fair to him, Robinson replied that he didn't think Duke was being honest. Jason Berry of the Los Angeles Times called it "startling TV" and the "catalyst" for the "overwhelming" turnout of black voters who helped Edwards defeat Duke.[74]

Edwards received 1,057,031 votes (61.2%), while Duke's 671,009 votes represented 38.8% of the total. Duke nevertheless claimed victory, saying, "I won my constituency. I won 55% of the white vote," a statistic confirmed by exit polls.[15]

1992 Republican Party presidential candidate

Duke ran as a Republican in the 1992 presidential primaries, although Republican Party officials tried to block his participation.[75] He received 119,115 (0.94%) votes[76] in the primaries, but no delegates to the national convention. His presidential campaign inspired a song, "David Duke Is Running For President," by ska punk band Skankin' Pickle.[77]

A 1992 film, Backlash: Race and the American Dream, investigated Duke's appeal among some white voters. Backlash explored the demagogic issues of Duke's platform, examining his use of black crime, welfare, affirmative action and white supremacy and tied Duke to a legacy of other white backlash politicians, such as Lester G. Maddox and George C. Wallace, Jr., and the use in the successful 1988 presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush of these same racially themed hot buttons.[78]

1996 campaign for U.S. Senate

When Johnston announced his retirement in 1996, Duke ran again for the U.S. Senate. He polled 141,489 votes (11.5%). Former Republican state representative Woody Jenkins of Baton Rouge and Democrat Mary Landrieu of New Orleans, the former state treasurer, went into the general election contest. Duke was fourth in the nine-person, jungle primary race.[79]

1999 campaign for U.S. House

A special election was held in Louisiana's First Congressional District following the sudden resignation of powerful Republican incumbent Bob Livingston in 1999. Duke sought the seat as a Republican and received 19% of the vote. He finished a close third, thus failing to make the runoff. His candidacy was repudiated by the Republicans.[80] Republican Party chairman Jim Nicholson remarked: "There is no room in the party of Lincoln for a Klansman like David Duke."[80] Republican state representative David Vitter (now a U.S. Senator) went on to defeat former governor Treen. Also in the race was the New Orleans Republican leader Rob Couhig.[81]

Later political activity

In 2004, Duke's bodyguard, roommate, and longtime associate Roy Armstrong made a bid for the United States House of Representatives, running as a Democrat, to serve Louisiana's First Congressional District. In the open primary, Armstrong finished second in the six candidate field with 6.69% of the vote, but Republican Bobby Jindal received 78.40% winning the seat.[82] Duke was the head advisor of Armstrong's campaign.[83][84]

Affiliations

Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

In 1974, Duke founded the Louisiana-based Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (KKKK), shortly after graduating from LSU.[88] He became Grand Wizard of the KKKK. A follower of Duke, Thomas Robb, changed the title of Grand Wizard to National Director, and replaced the Klan's white robes with business suits.[89] Duke first received broad public attention during this time, as he endeavored to market himself in the mid-1970s as a new brand of Klansman: well-groomed, engaged, and professional. Duke also reformed the organization, promoting nonviolence and legality, and, for the first time in the Klan's history, women were accepted as equal members and Catholics were encouraged to apply for membership.[90] Duke would repeatedly insist that the Klan was "not anti-black", but rather "pro-white" and "pro-Christian." Duke told The Daily Telegraph he left the Klan in 1980 because he disliked its associations with violence and could not stop the members of other Klan chapters from doing "stupid or violent things."[91]

NAAWP

Ernst Zündel and the Zundelsite

Duke has expressed his support for Holocaust denierErnst Zündel, a German emigrant in Canada. Duke made a number of statements supporting Zündel and his Holocaust denial campaign.[93][94][95][96] After the aging Zündel was deported from Canada to Germany[97] and imprisoned in Germany on charges of inciting the masses to ethnic hatred,[98] Duke referred to him as a "political prisoner".

His doctoral thesis was titled "Zionism as a Form of Ethnic Supremacism."[99] Anti-Defamation League claims that MAUP is the main source of antisemitic activity and publishing in Ukraine,[100] and its "anti-Semitic actions" were "strongly condemned" by Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk and various organizations.[101][102][103][104] The Anti-Defamation League describes it as a "University of Hate".[105] Duke has taught an international relations and a history course at MAUP.[106]

instead of talking about racial purity, we talk about identity ... that means basically to use the saleable words, as I say, freedom, security, identity, democracy. Nobody can criticise them. Nobody can come at you and attack you on those ideas. They are saleable.

This was widely reported in the media of the United Kingdom, as well as the meeting between Duke and Griffin, following electoral successes made by the party in 2009.[113][114][115]

New Orleans Protocol

Shortly after his release from prison for tax fraud in 2004, Duke organized a weekend gathering of "European Nationalists", in the vein of white nationalism, in Kenner, Louisiana. In an attempt to overcome the splintering and division in the white nationalist movement that had followed the death of leader William Pierce in 2002, Duke presented a unity proposal for peace within the movement and a better image amongst outsiders. His proposal was accepted and is now known as the New Orleans Protocol (NOP). It pledges adherents to a pan-European outlook, recognizing national and ethnic allegiance, but stressing the value of all European peoples. Signed by and sponsored by a number of white supremacist leaders and organizations, it has three provisions:[116][117]

"Zero tolerance for violence."

"Honorable and ethical behavior in relations with other signatory groups. This includes not denouncing others who have signed this protocol. In other words, no enemies on the right."

The SPLC noted that the "high tone" of the NOP contrasted with statements at the event where the pact was signed, such as Paul Fromm calling a Muslim woman "a hag in a bag" and Sam Dickson (from the Council of Conservative Citizens, another sponsor) speaking about the "very, very destructive" effect of opposing the Nazis in World War II – opposition that caused people to view Hitler's "normal, healthy racial values" as evil.[116] The SPLC described the NOP as a "smokescreen", saying that "most of conference participants' ire was directed at what they consider to be a worldwide Jewish conspiracy to destroy the white race through immigration and miscegenation".[118]

Publications

Finders-Keepers

To raise money in 1976, Duke (using the double pseudonym "Dorothy Vanderbilt" and "James Konrad") wrote a self-help book for women, Finders-Keepers: Finding and Keeping the Man You Want, which contains sexual, diet, fashion, cosmetic and relationship advice, and was published by the now defunct Arlington Place Books. Tulane University history professor Lawrence N. Powell, who read a rare copy of the book given to him by journalist Patsy Sims, wrote that it includes advice on vaginal exercises, fellatio, and anal sex.[119][120][121] The book is out of print and difficult to find; however, according to journalist Tyler Bridges, The Times-Picayune obtained a copy and traced its proceeds to Duke,[122] who compiled the content from women's self-help magazines.[15]

We [Whites] desire to live in our own neighborhoods, go to our own schools, work in our own cities and towns, and ultimately live as one extended family in our own nation. We shall end the racial genocide of integration. We shall work for the eventual establishment of a separate homeland for African Americans, so each race will be free to pursue its own destiny without racial conflicts and ill will.[10]

The Anti-Defamation League book review refers to it as containing racist, antisemitic, sexist and homophobic views.[123]

To raise the money to re-publish a new, updated edition of My Awakening, Duke instigated a 21-day fundraising drive on November 26, 2007, stating he had to raise "$25,344 by a December 17 deadline for the printers."[124] Duke states the drive was necessary because the work "has become the most important book in the entire world in the effort to awaken our people for our heritage and freedom."

Jewish supremacism

In 2001, Duke traveled to Russia to promote his next book, Jewish Supremacism: My Awakening to the Jewish Question. The book purports to "examine and document elements of ethnic supremacism that have existed in the Jewish community from historical to modern times."[125] The book is dedicated to Israel Shahak, a critical author of what Shahak saw as supremacist religious teachings in Jewish culture. Former Boris Yeltsin press minister Boris Mironov wrote an introduction for the Russian edition, printed under the title The Jewish Question Through the Eyes of an American.

The ADL office in Moscow urged the Moscow prosecutor to open an investigation into Mironov. The ADL office initiated a letter from Alexander Fedulov, a prominent member of the Duma, to Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, urging a criminal case be opened against the author and the Russian publisher of Duke's book. In his letter, Fedulov described the book as antisemitic and a violation of Russian anti-hate crime laws.[126] Around December 2001, the prosecutor's office closed the investigation of Boris Mironov and Jewish Supremacism. In a public letter, Yury Biryukov, First Deputy of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, stated that a psychological examination, which was conducted as a part of the investigation, concluded that the book and the actions of Boris Mironov did not break Russian hate-crime laws.[127]

The ADL refer to the book as antisemitic,[128] though Duke had denied the book is motivated by antisemitism.[129] At one time, the book was sold in the main lobby of the building of Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament). The first printing of 5,000 copies sold out in several weeks.

In 2004, the book was published in the United States. Originally published in English and Russian, the book has subsequently been translated internationally into Swedish, Ukrainian, Persian, Hungarian, Spanish[130] and most recently (2010) into Finnish.[131] In 2007, an updated edition was published[132] which Duke purports to be a "fine quality hardback edition with full color dust jacket and it has a new index and a number of timely additions".[130]

In 2006, Duke said his views had been "vindicated" with the publication of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy by professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, and said he was "surprised how excellent [the paper] is". Duke dedicated several radio webcasts to the book and the authors comparing it to his work Jewish Supremacism,[133][134][135][136] although Walt stated: "I have always found Mr. Duke's views reprehensible, and I am sorry he sees this article as consistent with his view of the world".[137]

His website has hosted articles by various authors claiming that Jewish loan-sharks own the Federal Reserve Bank,[138] and that Jews own Hollywood and the U.S. media.[139]

Internet broadcast

On February 5, 2002, Duke said on his Internet broadcast that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was "the world's worst terrorist" and that Mossad was involved in the September 11 attacks. The broadcast said that Zionists were behind the attacks in order to reduce sympathy for Muslim nations in the West, and that the number of Israelis killed in the attack was lower than it would be under normal circumstances, citing early assessments by The Jerusalem Post and "the legendary involvement of Israeli nationals in businesses at the World Trade Center". According to Duke, this indicated that Israeli security services had prior knowledge of the attack.[140]

Public appearances

Public address in Syria

On November 24, 2005, Duke visited Damascus, Syria, addressing a rally broadcast on Syrian television and giving an interview.[141][142] During the rally, he referred to Israel as a "war-mongering country" and stated that Zionists "occupy most of the American media and now control much of the American government…It is not just the West Bank of Palestine, it is not just the Golan Heights that are occupied by the Zionists, but Washington D.C. and New York and London and many other capitals of the world.” He concluded by stating: "Your fight for freedom is the same as our fight for freedom.” In a second interview, he said Israel "makes the Nazi state look very, very moderate." Syrian parliament member Mohammad Habash later stated that Duke's visit gave Syrians a "new and very positive view of the average American."[141][143][144]

Comments in the media

Since 2005, Duke has appeared three times on Current Issues, a Lafayette, Louisiana–based television show hosted and produced by Palestinian-American Hesham Tillawi, which has recently been picked up by Bridges TV. Tillawi gave Duke the opportunity to discourse at length about his beliefs on Jewish supremacism. On a show in October 2005, Duke claimed that Jewish extremists are responsible for undermining the morality of America and are attempting to "wash the world in blood."[145]

After Mearsheimer and Walt's paper on the Israel lobby appeared in March 2006, Duke praised the paper in a number of articles on his website, on his March 18 web broadcast, and on MSNBC's March 21 Scarborough Country program.[146] According to The New York Sun, Duke said in an email, "It is quite satisfying to see a body in the premier American university essentially come out and validate every major point I have been making since even before the war even started." Duke added that "the task before us is to wrest control of America's foreign policy and critical junctures of media from the Jewish extremist Neocons that seek to lead us into what they expectantly call World War IV."

Conferences

Duke organized a gathering of European Nationalists who signed the New Orleans Protocol on May 29, 2004. The signatories agreed to avoid infighting among far-right racialists.

On June 3, 2005, Duke co-chaired a conference named "Zionism As the Biggest Threat to Modern Civilization" in Ukraine, sponsored by the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management. The conference was attended by several notable Ukrainian public figures and politicians, and writer Israel Shamir.[147]

Duke claims that Swedish police thwarted an attempted assassination against him, in August 2005, while Duke was speaking in Sweden.[148]

Criticism, legal difficulties, and felony conviction

Critical publications

In Troubled Memory: Anne Levy, the Holocaust and David Duke's Louisiana[151][152] Lawrence N. Powell, a founding member of the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism, depicts the "story of Anne Skorecki Levy, a Holocaust survivor who transformed the horrors of her childhood into a passionate mission to defeat the political menace of reputed neo-Nazi and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke." [153]

Tax fraud conviction

On December 12, 2002, David Duke pleaded guilty to the felony charge of filing a false tax return under 26 U.S.C.§ 7206 and mail fraud under 18 U.S.C.§ 1341[8] According to the New York Times: "Mr. Duke was accused of telling supporters that he was in financial straits, then misusing the money they sent him from 1993 to 1999. He was also accused of filing a false 1998 tax return.... Mr. Duke used the money for personal investments and gambling trips.... [T]he [supporter] contributions were as small as $5 and [according to the United States attorney, Jim Letten] there were so many that returning the money would be 'unwieldy.'"[154]

Four months later, Duke was sentenced to 15 months in prison, and he served the time in Big Spring, Texas. He was also fined US$10,000, ordered to cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service, and to pay money still owed for his 1998 taxes. Following his release in May 2004, he stated that his decision to take the plea bargain was motivated by the bias that he perceived in the United States federal court system and not his guilt. He said he felt the charges were contrived to derail his political career and discredit him to his followers, and that he took the safe route by pleading guilty and receiving a mitigated sentence, rather than pleading not guilty and potentially receiving the full sentence.

The mail fraud charges stemmed from what prosecutors described as a six-year scheme to dupe thousands of his followers by asking for donations. Using the postal service, Duke appealed to his supporters for funds by fraudulently stating he was about to lose his house and his life savings. Prosecutors alleged that Duke raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in this scheme. Prosecutors also stipulated that in contrast to what he stated in the mailings, he sold his home at a hefty profit, had multiple investment accounts, and spent much of his money gambling at casinos.[155][156][157]

The Smoking Gun posted the entire file of court documents related to this case at its website, including details on Duke's guilty pleas.[158]

Duke supporter Don Black claims that Duke was targeted by the government to discredit him.[159]

2009 arrest in the Czech Republic

In April 2009, Duke traveled to the Czech Republic on invitation by a Czech neo-Nazi group known as Národní Odpor ("National Resistance") to deliver three lectures in Prague and Brno to promote the Czech translation of his book My Awakening.[160] He was arrested on April 23 on suspicion of "denying or approving of the Nazi genocide and other Nazi crimes" and "promotion of movements seeking suppression of human rights," which are crimes in the Czech Republic punishable by up to three years' imprisonment. At the time of his arrest, Duke was reportedly guarded by members of the Národní Odpor.[161][162]

The police released him early on April 25, on condition that he leave the country by midnight that same day.[163][164][165]

Duke's first lecture had been scheduled at Charles University in Prague, but it was canceled after university officials learned that neo-Nazis were planning to attend.[166] Some Czech politicians, including Interior Minister Ivan Langer and Human Rights and Minorities Minister Michael Kocáb, had previously expressed opposition to Duke's being allowed entrance into the Czech Republic[161]

In September 2009, the office of the District Prosecutor for Prague dropped all charges, explaining that there was no evidence that David Duke had committed any crime.[167]

2013 expulsion from Italy; Schengen Area ban

In 2013, an Italian court ruled in favor of expelling Duke from Italy.[168] Duke, then 63, was living in a mountain village Valle di Cadore in northern Italy. Although Duke had been issued a visa to live there by the Italian embassy in Malta, Italian police later found that Switzerland had issued a residence ban against Duke that applied throughout Europe's Schengen Area. Duke's attorney said he had not decided, as of December 5, 2013, whether or not to appeal the decision.[168]

^ abEdsall, Thomas B. (December 21, 1998). "David Duke to Seek Livingston's Seat". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-09-20. Yesterday, the party moved quickly once again to disassociate itself from Duke. Republican National Committee Chairman Jim Nicholson declared: "There is no room in the party of Lincoln for a Klansman like David Duke."